Creating a Digital Breakout for Library Orientation
Last year I used Google forms to create my first digital breakout for a lesson on finding copyright free images. I had wanted to blog about it but never had a chance to do so. I decided to start off the new year with another digital breakout for my annual library orientation with 6th and 7th graders. I think that this could easily be adapted for younger or older students. It was a great success and so easy because I did not have to drag out boxes and locks that needed to be set up for each class.
5 Apps for Motivation and Classroom Management
Are you at a point in the year when it's getting harder to motivate and grab your students' attention? I've come across some fun apps that will help you with your class management. These apps should keep your students motivated, engaged in the lesson, and behavior under control. The apps are low cost or free. In fact, most of the apps will be loaded on your iPad. The apps help in setting up teams or groups, setting up a reward system for behavior or work completed, random student selector, matching students and activities, and quiz review.
The Basics Of Digital Citizenship: 27 Power Verbs to Guide Children Online -
The Basics Of Digital Citizenship: 27 Power Verbs to Guide Children Online by TeachThought Staff How can you promote digital citizenship in students? We’ve offered that the definition of digital citizenship can be thought of as, roughly, “The quality of habits, actions, and consumption patterns that impact the ecology of digital content and communities.” In short, citizenship online and offline is very similar.
Librarian Approved: 30 Ed-Tech Apps to Inspire Creativity and Creation
Tool discovery is often a challenge for teachers interested in finding ways to use technology that will change the way they and their students work. With so much going on in the classroom, many teachers don’t have the time to test out various apps and find the perfect tool to meet their needs. Luckily, several tech-savvy librarians have been curating the apps their colleagues find useful and sharing the all-stars with one another through personal learning communities (PLC) and edWeb webinars. These educators are paying attention to their own working habits, as well as those of students, to figure out which technology products and trends are here to stay. Michelle Luhtala, a school librarian in New Canaan, Connecticut, has noticed that much of her own work has transitioned from the computer to her smartphone. She sees the same trend in students, but also recognizes many schools have policies against phones because they can be distractions.
Plenary session by Joy Egbert
About the session Engagement principles and practice in classroom learning, language and technology A still-common issue with technology use in language learning is an overly-strong focus on the digital tools and a relatively weak emphasis on actual learning.
12 Must-Teach Classroom Procedures and Routines
Transitions can be challenging for so many of our kids. Giving students a clear idea of when you all will move on to the next activity can really help. Many of our HELPLINE teachers said that using a timer was their number-one classroom-management tip. The stoplight timer pictured above adds a nice visual cue. Here’s a tip: The timer on your phone works great, too, especially if your students get to choose the alert sound! 4.
The 12 Best Apps for Educators
As schools continue to maximize technology in the classroom, they have come to embrace mobile technology as part of the learning process. From iPads to smartphones, teachers have found ways to leverage iPads to enhance their learning experience and improve their own teaching and productivity. In today's classrooms, apps have myriad uses and functionality for both teachers preparing their lessons and students during the learning experience.
25 Awesome Social Media Tools for Education
Connecting with each other comes to us more easily now that we can just tap away on a keyboard and chat with a person who lives over 3000 miles away. Finding information knows no boundaries with Google on every computer in the world. As educators, this means access to more, faster, which is thrilling and mindboggling. However, it can also be frustrating and confusing with so much to choose from. How do you know which platform is the best for your goals? Which social media organization has the best resources and community?
How to Create your own Crossword Puzzles
Crossword puzzles are fun to solve and can also be used as an educational tool. Learn how to create your own crossword puzzles. A lot of us are crossword enthusiasts – a fact easily demonstrated by the inclusion of these puzzles in almost every newspaper across the globe. Crossword puzzles are fun to solve and can also be used as an educational tool to great benefit.
Evaluating Technology Use in the Classroom – The Thinking Stick
Evaluating the use of technology in a classroom environment is not something most administrators are trained to do. It is easy to walk into a classroom and see that every student is using a computer, but how do you really assess if and what type of learning is taking place? In the past, I have had administrators tell me “I walked into the teacher’s room and all the students were on laptops.” As though just the site of students working on laptops meant they were engaged in the learning process. I have been trying to wrap my head around a simple way for administrators to evaluate the use of technology in the classroom (a thank you to Dennis Harter who got me thinking about this). When most administrators evaluate teachers during the evaluation process, they have some sort of check sheet they are working from either mental or as part of a school’s evaluation process.
12 (mostly cheap) Teacher Tricks that Work in an Elementary Library
Learning practical teaching tips and tricks is one of my favorite forms of professional development. I love when others share simple things that can be applied quickly and easily to my teaching and improve learning for my students. Here are twelve tips and tricks that work in my library: A Magic Wand – This can truly be magic! This wand is used to dismiss students from the rug to move to other activities.
